What does this mean on a headstone?

[Lensgirl]

Hi

I have a photo of a headstone of someone who died in 2003 in Scotland. It has his name (surname Connor) and the underneath in brackets is another name (hagan). Is that his wifes surname who is still alive? I know his mmn is something completely different, so what is this? Is it just a nickname?

Many thanks

[GallowayLass]

Female spouses whether alive or dead usually appear on Scottish gravestones with their maiden surnames but I have never seen one with the maiden surname in brackets.
Could you post an image so I can see the complete inscription?
If you don’t want to display it publicly you can send me the image to the email address in my profile.

[Lensgirl]

Yes sure. I hope this works ok

[GallowayLass]

I have checked SP indexes for this man and his death is only indexed as Connor so he didn’t have an officially recorded name change. Hagan is not the maiden surname of either of his two wives. The lady whose forename is on the stone is the 2nd wife.
I can only assume that he either used Hagan as a nickname or perhaps his mother later married a man with that surname although if he had ever been known by that surname, his death certificate ought to have been indexed as such as well as Connor.
You can purchase both his two marriage certificates and his death certificate through SP but I think they are not taking orders at the moment. He does not appear to have been born in Scotland.

[Gardengirl]

If you google ‘what does Hagan mean?’ there are a few name variations and their meanings. I have also recently seen something similar on a English gravestone where the nickname is in brackets like that.

[GallowayLass]

If you google ‘what does Hagan mean?’ there are a few name variations and their meanings. I have also recently seen something similar on a English gravestone where the nickname is in brackets like that.

If the bit in brackets had said Hagar instead of Hagan, I would have instantly said it was a nickname as there was a long-standing cartoon of the doings of a Viking called “Hagar the Horrible” in the Scottish Sunday Mail (different newspaper entirely from the Scottish edition of The Mail on Sunday). I see from googling that as you say that Hagan is a boy’s name of Scandinavian and Gaelic cultural origins as well as an Anglicisation of the Irish surname O’Hagan from Cos. Tyrone, Armagh and Derry.

I don’t have newspaper access but maybe someone could see if there was a funeral announcement that might give a clue about the extra name. The nearest local papers to the village of the same name as the district where the death was registered are ‘The Carluke and Lanark Gazette’ and ‘The West Lothian Courier’.

[cbcarolyn]

I did look at papers earlier and didn't find anything. Maybe I missed it.